In jogging, racing and other athletic situations there occurs problems when the athlete does not wish to stop to drink. For a cyclist, it is known to employ removable drinking bottles or the like that are may be clipped to the center portion of the bicycle. This is not a totally satisfactory solution, since the bicycle rider has to cope with gripping the removable container and bring it upwardly to drink from the container. This requires the use of the hands Moreover, there is a risk that the bicycle rider/drinker will have an accident, or otherwise drop the container and still have to stop the bicycle. Runners, similarly, may wish or need to drink without stopping or using their hands to handle containers of water or the like, as in marathons.
The closest prior art of which the inventor is aware is U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,812. This patent describes a retractable bicycle apparatus in which a hose or tube is wound upon a spring loaded reel so that the hose can be pulled from the reel to drink; but it tightens a spring in so doing, so the hose will retract when the tube is released thereafter. The beverage supplied to the rider in that patent is sucked through the hose. The system employed a retractable hose and the beverage is not pressurized to the rider. Consequently there are disadvantages attendant to the patented system.
It is desirable that systems of this invention have one or more of the following features not heretofore provided.
1. The invention should provide a tube for conducting water or the potable beverage to the mouth of the athlete for drinking.
2. This invention should provide a method of controlling the flow of water through the tube provided to the mouth of the athlete.
3. This invention should provide a method of storing water that enables drinking without stopping or undue use of the hands.
As will be seen, the prior art has not provided us without some attendant disadvantages and some other prior art will be seen hereinafter.
Other systems turned up by a pre-examination search on the bicycle apparatus include the following (no search having been conducted on the runner version per se).
U.S. Pat. No. 627,693, Howarth, is not a beverage dispenser but is a system for holding material such as pepper to ward off attacking dogs. It employs a hand pump and when compressed, forces pepper into a dog's face.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,160,330, Pollitt, employs a captive air charge to force beverage from a fixed volume liquid container. The liquid is then siphoned out. The system of the present invention employs no fixed volume and uses no air or siphon to drive the liquid from the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,681, Howarth, Jr. describes a device that uses a captive air charge to drive a cleaning solution to clean mud or dirt from the riders goggles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,566, Rowe, describes a device that is an improved version of the previous reel type device described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,812. This device retracts a hose in linear manner instead of radial manner and requires the beverage be sucked from the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,813, Coleman, describes a device that uses a pump that is powered by contact with the wheel or the like of the bicycle. This is a device for entertainment and differs greatly from the invention described and claimed in this application.
From the foregoing it can be seen that it is desirable that a drinking apparatus for an athlete, such as a jogger or rider of a bicycle be enabled to have a drink of a potable beverage, such as water, without having to stop and without requiring the use of the hands, and without the attendant risk of dropping a container of the beverage.